The Good and Bad of Backyard Chickens
There are good points and bad points when it comes to having backyard chickens. For us, the good outweighs the bad and we love keeping chickens on our urban homestead otherwise known as our small backyard in the city, but it’s a good idea to know what you’re in for.
How to Hold Baby Chicks
When we have baby chicks, all the kids on our street want to come over and hold them. It’s great watching the kids be gentle with the chicks or overcoming their fears of grabbing them and holding them. When the chicks are held closely, they feel calmer and many times their eyes will close and {Read more about How to Hold Baby Chicks}
Frugal and Fancy Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13th this year and it’s coming soon. It’s a wonderful day to celebrate Mothers and doesn’t need to cost lots of money or have families feeling like they need to rush out to the mall for more stuff. All of these frugal and fancy gift ideas have a theme: homemade, {Read more about Frugal and Fancy Mother’s Day}
7 Quick Ways to Get a Teen to Leave the Room
Parenting teenagers is bizarre. One minute they’re smiling, sweet, and pleasant, the next they’re mad and upset. It’s an emotional roller coaster. The only visual I can give you is this: take both of your hands and hold them out straight in front of you. With one hand signal “come closer” and with the other {Read more about 7 Quick Ways to Get a Teen to Leave the Room}
Meal Planning for Campers
Planning out what you are going to eat while camping is very important. You don’t want to get to your destination only to find out you’re missing a crucial food element. For some reason, camping makes everyone extra hungry, too. I think it’s all the fresh air, biking, hiking, and exploring that goes along with {Read more about Meal Planning for Campers}
Frugal in San Francisco Part 3
A family of four vacationing in a great city like San Francisco, California can be expensive. Once you add up the costs involved with getting there, feeding your family, doing fun activities, and staying in a hotel, your travel budget can be shot. That’s why a home exchange is so easy on your wallet. There’s {Read more about Frugal in San Francisco Part 3}
Frugal in San Francisco Part 2
Not having spent much time in the city of San Francisco, the point of our visit was to immerse ourselves in the neighborhood and walk everywhere. When we arrived at our home exchange house on Sunday evening, we parked our car in their garage and agreed to not drive it again until we left for {Read more about Frugal in San Francisco Part 2}
Frugal in San Francisco Part 1
When we go on a trip and travel somewhere, our trips are all about food. We like to eat and eat well. In general, we try to cook breakfast and dinners at home, go to lunch somewhere, pack a picnic lunch to bring along or pick up food at a local market. Meals at restaurants {Read more about Frugal in San Francisco Part 1}
Vacation Meal Planning
If you’re a regular reader here at Go Gingham, you know that I’m a regular weekly meal planner. I’m such a regular meal planner, I even plan our meals when going on a vacation or for a weekend away. For spring break, we’re headed to San Francisco for a home exchange. The people we’re trading {Read more about Vacation Meal Planning}
The Love Honorable Mentions
Now that we’ve completed the “14 Days of Things I Love” series, there are a few items that I really like but, for a variety of reasons (as you’ll see below), didn’t quite make the list.
Love the Library
The library is a love of mine because it’s our major source of entertainment. I love everything about it! I love the reserve system. I love that I can save my searches and then go back to them later. I love how I can sign up for e-mail alerts for items I’ve searched for in {Read more about Love the Library}
Love the Lunchtime Date
Looking for a date idea for Valentine’s Day? Have a lunchtime date with your sweetie. Go ahead and schedule it right now. I’ll wait…you won’t be sorry. It seems extra extravagant when having a daytime date. And, when kids are in school, the parents should have a little fun, shouldn’t they? Dining at lunch, especially {Read more about Love the Lunchtime Date}
Home Exchange Love
I love to travel and see the world but travel can be an expensive indulgence. Eating out, hotels, and rental cars can all really add up. Now, the first thing we do when the travel bug hits is start searching our favorite home exchange service website. It wasn’t always like this. Years ago, I worked {Read more about Home Exchange Love}
How Is It That
…when we go to the beach in Oregon in November, we have nicer weather than during the summer?
DIY Project: Chalkboard
Kids love drawing with chalk. Adults do, too! When our kids were younger, we wanted a chalkboard in our basement, which we had recently renovated and turned into a play area. The problem we faced was that we had very few smooth walls to choose from. We did not finish (frame and drywall) the exterior {Read more about DIY Project: Chalkboard}
